France has arrested more than 20 people over two recent kidnapping plots targeting crypto traders in Paris and another attempt in western France, according to reports from French news agency AFP.
The arrests are part of an investigation by France's organised crime office into several abudctions, one on 1 May (abduction of the father of a crypto-millionaire, who was later rescued by French police), another on 13 May (attempted kidnapping of a French cryptocurrency entrepreneur's daughter and grandson), and a new plot that was foiled Monday near the western city of Nantes.
The incidents have raised concerns about the security of wealthy crypto-tycoons who have notched up immense fortunes from the booming business.
The arrests of groups of suspects were made on different occasions over the last month and not simultaneously. The two Paris plots were revealed at the time but this is the first time details of the incident outside Nantes have emerged.
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According to the reports, six people have been charged in connection with the 1 May kidnapping in Paris of the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrency.
The victim, for whom a ransom of several million euros was demanded by his captors, was freed during a raid on 3 May by the security forces on a house in the Essonne region outside Paris where he was being held.
The victim was abducted in front of witnesses by four hooded men who bundled him into a delivery van and injured him.
A few days later, on 13 May, the daughter and grandson of the chief executive of a cryptocurrency company escaped a street kidnapping in Paris, an incident that received wide coverage as dramatic images were posted on social media.
The entire team of aggressors involved in that plot were arrested, said the source, without giving further details on the number of people involved.
The two targeted were the family of Pierre Noizat, the CEO and co-founder of Paymium, a French cryptocurrency exchange platform.
In an interview with BFM television, Noizat praised their "heroic" behaviour as well as that of the man who used a fire extinguisher against the attackers, saying he was "exemplary".
On Monday, a new kidnapping attempt was foiled in the Nantes region just before it was carried out, the source said, without providing further details on the events or the victims.
These plots followed the abduction on 21 January of French crypto boss David Balland, who co-founded a crypto firm, Ledger, valued at the time at more than $1 billion, and his partner.
Ballard's finger was cut off by his kidnappers, who had demanded a hefty ransom. He was freed the next day, and his girlfriend was found tied up in the boot of a car in Essonne.
(AFP)
